“Well, shall we go to the hermit’s?” said Elise, anxious to avert the impending scene. “What do you think, Patty, Kit has a toothache, and can’t go, after all.”
“Toothache!”
“Yes, a bad ulceration. He sent down word by Bobbink, that pet bellboy of his, that we were to go on without him. The boy will show us the way.”
“How ridiculous! Why not wait till tomorrow?”
“No, Kit says the hermit man expects us and we must go. You’ll go along, won’t you?”
“Yes, of course. Shall I change this rigging,—or go as I am?”
“Go as you are. It’s time we were off. Roger and Mona have gone on ahead, but as they went in the opposite direction, I am not sure they’ll get there before we do.”
“Those two have a fancy for going in the opposite direction,” laughed Patty; “ever notice it?”
“Not being stone blind, I have,” Elise admitted, and really the interest Roger and Mona had for each other became more apparent each day.
The Kenerleys declined to go on the hermit expedition, saying that they knew their “fortune,” and had no reason for questioning the future. So the others started.